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Ethernet Card.....recommendation required.

I am intending to make the transformation from a dialup ISP to cable ISP. I live in Australia and cable is relatively new here. There is currently only 1 cable ISP and it only services 2 major cities in all of Australia. Fortunately, I live in Sydney which is one of these cities.
I know before I can get connected I need an ethernet card. What is an ethernet card and what is its actual purpose? Is it required for all cable connections or does it depend on the cable modem?
According to the cable ISP here, I have to buy the modem off them. It is a Motorola "Cybersurfer".
As far as the ethernet card is concerned, any recommendations as to what brand and model?
From what I hear, cable is alot more common in USA than out here, so any help would be appreciated?

That is the same cable modem that I am currently using. The ethernet card is a local area network interface card that allows your computer to connect and comunicate to the cable modem network. It will use tcp/ip for connection protocol like a dial up adapter, but your network connection is just like a LAN (local area network). This interface card is required for cable modems currently, for them to be able to comunicate with your computer.

The LAN card that I use is the 3Com Etherlink XL pci ethernet card. It works great, but it is a bit slow on startup to initialize and send packets to the network. You can get any ethernet (LAN) card for your system, but it has to be a 10baseT interface using an rj-45 jack connector (very similar to a phone connector), unless motorolla has changed the modem for overseas use (which I doubt). Just double check with the cable internet provider and see what ethernet card you need to use.

3Com ethernet cards are your best bet though, they are the fastest, and most widely supported cards.

Thanks for the info. I checked with the cable internet provider and they recommend your ethernet card. (3Com Etherlink XL PCI)

I'm presuming you live in USA. What kind of pricing plans are common over there? Over here plans start at A$65 for 100mb a month (this equates to US$40 app.) A 200mb plan costs A$90 (US$58) Is your pricing similar?